Escapist Podcast: 081: PlayStation 4

[DrunkenElfMage]

I am one of the few that are genuinely excited for the PS4, and not just because of Infamous Second Son (seriously am I the only fanboy of that series?). I think that people just forget just how ancient the technology is inside of the PS3 and the 360. THis fact finally hit me when Gearbox talked about why they couldn't add any more character levels to Borderlands 2 without frying the game. Just imagine how many games in the past few years have been limited by the specs of the consoles, not in terms of Graphics, but in terms of mechanics. The Ps4 has finally lifted a few of these limitations and developers will flock to the console because of it.

Sony finally pulled their head out of their ass as well, and made a console developers will not despise working with.

Best of all, it doesn't seem to be running on gimmick, unlike the WiiU. The gimmicks they do have are completely optional; every game won't have to use the touch pad, the motion sensor, the online sharing, and the game chat, these things are just potential options for developers.

You know what? I am beginning to get the press conference now; this was as much for developers as well the general public. I have a feeling that there are going to be some big games coming for the console and sooner than we think.

 

[Akisa]

So we're going to pretend FFXI as cross platform MMORPG. And the fact that it's mention it's the most profitable Final Fantasy game, I'm just going to let that sink in.

Reference:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/24/the-most-profitable-final-fantasy-of-all-time-is

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I am one of the few that are genuinely excited for the PS4, and not just because of Infamous Second Son (seriously am I the only fanboy of that series?). I think that people just forget just how ancient the technology is inside of the PS3 and the 360. THis fact finally hit me when Gearbox talked about why they couldn't add any more character levels to Borderlands 2 without frying the game. Just imagine how many games in the past few years have been limited by the specs of the consoles, not in terms of Graphics, but in terms of mechanics. The Ps4 has finally lifted a few of these limitations and developers will flock to the console because of it.

Sony finally pulled their head out of their ass as well, and made a console developers will not despise working with.

Best of all, it doesn't seem to be running on gimmick, unlike the WiiU. The gimmicks they do have are completely optional; every game won't have to use the touch pad, the motion sensor, the online sharing, and the game chat, these things are just potential options for developers.

You know what? I am beginning to get the press conference now; this was as much for developers as well the general public. I have a feeling that there are going to be some big games coming for the console and sooner than we think.

I was excited. I've very much got the feel that the Escapist is very much a PC or Xbox sort of site, not a lot of love for the under dog. I'm going to sell hardcore porn if I have to to get my hands on inFAMOUS, although I'd like to see an Insomniac game, but that isn't going to happen because they're working on a crappy Resistance spin-off for EA.

Although I do get what they mean by system seller, the only reason the Xbox is still around is because Halo did so well and the only reason the Wii sold literal fuck tonnes is because of Wii-sports. Not saying those systems didn't have good exclusives, but yeah, the reasons they sold.

 

[Lieju]

Okay, I checked the weather forecast for New York, and it says it's about 40 F over there.

And, as a Finnish person, I gotta say that is not cold. I'd totally wear a hoodie for a weather like that. But it depends on what kind of weather you're used to. And also on whether you'll be moving around or standing still). Growing up, there were times when our house would be about 10C. (We also had no running water or inside toilet.)

 

[wakeup]

wow you guys could of been a bit more excited, its a new console, come on. this podcast seemed too negative. i would like to know why Susan thinks the xbox 360 is a better GAMES console seeing as though Microsoft has no focus on the actual games anymore. i most say as a avid listener, your views on this were disappointing to me and got me a bit annoyed. sorry just saying what i think.

 

[PureIrony]

Regarding Persona 5: Tokyo Jungle, its worth noting that in Persona 3 there is a dog that can summon a persona(though this was in Persona 3, where having a Persona had nothing to do with one's inner self and mostly just happened"because"), so the crossover is somewhat plausible.

Regarding the PS4, I'm not excited for it, but if I'm going to buy a next generation console, it pretty much wins by default. Between Microsoft's practices(ads on a service I pay for!)and Nintendo being Nintendo, as well as Sony historically having the better exclusives and taking more risks, there's no question of which company to root for. That said, I'd probably sooner just buy a used PS3 on the cheap or go whole hog with the PC GAMUHN MERSTER RERC, but there you go.

Also, I'm disappoint that Susan didn't get a chance to say anything about the new titles. Does no one remember she wasn't here last week?

 

[Cormyre]

I'll have to try and remember to listen to this episode at home instead of my normal Saturday ritual at work, the lack of audio level balancing (or eating the mic) on one of the staff had the whole room looking at me when he cut in >_<;;

 

[bananafishtoday]

I am one of the few that are genuinely excited for the PS4, and not just because of Infamous Second Son (seriously am I the only fanboy of that series?). I think that people just forget just how ancient the technology is inside of the PS3 and the 360. THis fact finally hit me when Gearbox talked about why they couldn't add any more character levels to Borderlands 2 without frying the game.

EDIT: Oops! Nevermind, I was wrong. Would feel weird just deleting the post though.

Spoiler

That isn't a technical/hardware limitation--adding levels/skills is just changing some numbers: it'd require a near insignificant amount of additional storage, but not really any more processing power. They said the reason they can't increase the level cap is because the entire tech tree is designed around 50 being the max level. There are certain combinations of skills that would be (literally!) gamebreakingly overpowered because they would do way too much damage. (That is, other than absolutely ruining game balance, they would do so much damage that variables would overflow, akin to a 999999 odometer rolling over to 000000.) Those combos are only impossible because the level cap doesn't allow enough skill points to get them.

(That's what they said anyway; I haven't played it, so I don't know firsthand. But yeah, nothing to do with hardware power.)

Okay, I checked the weather forecast for New York, and it says it's about 40 F over there.

And, as a Finnish person, I gotta say that is not cold. I'd totally wear a hoodie for a weather like that. But it depends on what kind of weather you're used to. And also on whether you'll be moving around or standing still). Growing up, there were times when our house would be about 10C. (We also had no running water or inside toilet.)

Our weather in the spring is pretty labile. It's been anywhere from 20F to 50F the past few weeks. 40's def hoodie (maybe even tshirt, but I like the cold) weather, but it was prolly colder than that that night.

 

[Lieju]

Our weather in the spring is pretty labile. It's been anywhere from 20F to 50F the past few weeks. 40's def hoodie (maybe even tshirt, but I like the cold) weather, but it was prolly colder than that that night.

Yeah, to be fair, it also depends on whether it's windy.

 

[yngi]

after I saw infamous second son I was like shut up and take my money sony

 

[Vie]

Milk is good for shifting blood. Just FYI.

 

[Susan Arendt]

wow you guys could of been a bit more excited, its a new console, come on. this podcast seemed too negative. i would like to know why Susan thinks the xbox 360 is a better GAMES console seeing as though Microsoft has no focus on the actual games anymore. i most say as a avid listener, your views on this were disappointing to me and got me a bit annoyed. sorry just saying what i think.

I didn't say it was better. I may like it better, but that's a personal preference.

Our views were disappointing because we didn't agree with you?

 

[caleb451]

As a counterpoint to the whole console MMO discuss, would you consider the Phantasy Star Online game and its various incarnations to be MMOs? I mean,
1) It was online (duh)
2) With other people
3) You could chat with them, primarily with preselected phrases, but there was a specialized keyboard for the Dreamcast
4) It's maybe not as open-ended as, for example WoW, since there was a definite storyline to be played.

Thoughts?

 

[Lincoln Thurber]

Most of my friends are PS3 and XB360 players and they call came away cautiously optimistic with Sony's conference. We are whatever you want to game core gamers or enthusiasts gamers whatever; so I think the more gamesr then you think took away a positive outlook.

Also, consoles MMOs have been 'a thing'. Final Fantasy 11 is still a very lucrative and popular game, and much of it audience did start playing on PS2. And, yeah you could play it with a keyboard on the system. PS1, SP2 and PS3 have all had mouse & keyboard support....and yeah people do play the MMOs on those systems with a keyboard.

I am very likely to buy a PS4, and a poll among my friends seems to be the same. Some of my XB360 friends are a little conflicted about how much they want one. I think PS4 did change more minds than you think.

 

[awdrifter]

The system seller for me from PS1 through P3 were the Gran Turismo series. I think it was stupid for them not to have at least a GT6 Prologue demo or announcement at this conference. While Drive Club looks cool, Evolution Studios are not known for simulation games and they don't have the pedigree of Polyphony Digital. Also, Squenix just showed of the old Agni's Philosophy video again, that's not nearly enough to make me want to buy a PS4 at launch. I don't care about all the social stuff. Companies just don't get it, not everyone wants to play games with another person, sometimes we just want a good single player game.

 

[Jachwe]

The character for four isn't the same as the character for death. The sounds of those words are similar in Chinese (different tones). This transfers into Japanese because of Sino-Japanese vocabulary.

For reference:
Death: &#27515;
Four: &#22235;

You may correct me on this but from my fuzzy knowledge back from the two semesters of Japanese I took in college,death is shi and four is shi or yon. I was told because of superstitions many things weren't named 4 because of the similarity. For example buildings don't have 4th floors, much like how in the English speaking world they don't give buildings 13th floors.

You remember correctly. In the japanese language the characters of death and four have the same sinojapanese pronounciation "shi". Thus there is the superstition with the number four.

 

[Susan Arendt]

As a counterpoint to the whole console MMO discuss, would you consider the Phantasy Star Online game and its various incarnations to be MMOs? I mean,
1) It was online (duh)
2) With other people
3) You could chat with them, primarily with preselected phrases, but there was a specialized keyboard for the Dreamcast
4) It's maybe not as open-ended as, for example WoW, since there was a definite storyline to be played.

Thoughts?

Yes, though a very, very scaled down version. You could only have three other people in your party, and the game never grew much beyond the four core areas (though there were some new missions added). It's still my ideal MMO, because you could 100% do it by yourself, and you could play either on or offline. You got more experience and better loot if you played online, but you didn't have to if you didn't want to. Of course, you basically just went through the same areas over and over and over again, but I didn't mind that, really.

It's probably more comparable to something like Call of Duty now, where you have a lobby full of people, but can only actually bring a handful into the game with you.

 

[wakeup]

wow you guys could of been a bit more excited, its a new console, come on. this podcast seemed too negative. i would like to know why Susan thinks the xbox 360 is a better GAMES console seeing as though Microsoft has no focus on the actual games anymore. i most say as a avid listener, your views on this were disappointing to me and got me a bit annoyed. sorry just saying what i think.

I didn't say it was better. I may like it better, but that's a personal preference.

Our views were disappointing because we didn't agree with you?

i was disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm. this is a exciting time for gamer's yet you couldn't seem less excited.

 

[Susan Arendt]

wow you guys could of been a bit more excited, its a new console, come on. this podcast seemed too negative. i would like to know why Susan thinks the xbox 360 is a better GAMES console seeing as though Microsoft has no focus on the actual games anymore. i most say as a avid listener, your views on this were disappointing to me and got me a bit annoyed. sorry just saying what i think.

I didn't say it was better. I may like it better, but that's a personal preference.

Our views were disappointing because we didn't agree with you?

i was disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm. this is a exciting time for gamer's yet you couldn't seem less excited.

They didn't show us anything, so there wasn't anything to be enthusiastic about. The fact that a new console exists isn't enough to warrant enthusiasm. Show me something to be excited about, I'll be more than happy to get revved up, but vague promises and cinematic trailers aren't going to blow my skirt up.

I said that I found the potential social interactions intriguing, and I do, as they open up avenues for innovation in game design. But I'm not going to freak out simply because a new console is coming out. I'm not that easy a mark. Perhaps once they show more at E3, there will be something concrete to be excited about, but until then, I don't see any reason to be jumping up and down.

 

[ritchards]

I'll happy play DCU Online on my PC as soon as I can launch the game without it crashing...